On Indian media writing: corporators, conducting and bigwigs
The BJP’s two-day training session for the corporators started on Friday. The training, aimed at teaching them how to conduct in the council and how to improve the charm of the party, was held at Guestline Hotel at Attibele near Hosur Road. The session was moderated by party bigwigs like M.P. Anant Kumar, BJP party president K.S. Eshwarappa and home minister R. Ashok.
- Corporators: I don’t even know what those are. People who work in companies? Managers? Board members? Entrepreneurs? I think I like the word, but I know it’s wrong.
- how to conduct in the council: Are they Herbert von Karajan? The verb “conduct” means to conduct other people, as in to lead them in something. The reporter meant to use a reflexive verb, that is, a verb that requires you to use a pronoun. In this case, it should have been “aimed at teaching them how to conduct themselves in the council,” or else it would have been a lesson in how to manipulate other people. It is entirely possible that this is what the reporter meant, but I doubt that he or she had that finely tuned a sense of irony.
- bigwigs: it’s too loosey-goosey in hard-news writing.
